The Shining Stars
On the November 4, 2011 SmackDown, Fernando debuted on the main roster as Epico, a heel, and aligned with Hunico. On the November 11 Smackdown, Diego (as Primo), Epico's real-life cousin, was in the corner of Epico when he teamed with Hunico in a winning effort against the Usos. On the November 17 Superstars, Primo & Epico beat the Usos. On the December 1 Superstars, Rosa Mendes aligned herself with the group as their valet, as they were quietly disassociated from Hunico. Primo & Epico then began a feud with WWE Tag Team Champions Air Boom, beating both Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston in singles matches, followed by two victories for Primo & Epico against Air Boom during non-title tag team matches on December 13 at WWE Tribute to the Troops and the December 15 Superstars. This earned Primo & Epico a shot at the titles at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view, but were unsuccessful. Primo & Epico's feud with Air Boom continued with Air Boom triumphant in singles matches, while Primo & Epico obtained yet another victory in an non-title tag match. At a Raw live event on January 15, 2012, Primo & Epico defeated Air Boom to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. The following night on Raw, Primo & Epico successfully defended their titles in a rematch.16 Primo & Epico would go on earn victories in non-title matches, defeating various teams such as Jim Duggan & Santino Marella, Mason Ryan & Alex Riley and The Usos; however, Primo & Epico would suffer non-title losses against the team of Kofi Kingston & R-Truth. On the February 27 edition of Raw, Primo & Epico successfully defended their titles in a Triple Threat tag team match against the teams of Kingston & R-Truth and Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger. In the dark match of WrestleMania XXVIII, Primo & Epico successfully defended their titles in a triple threat tag team match against the Usos and Justin Gabriel & Tyson Kidd. After WrestleMania, Primo & Epico suffered non-title losses to the teams of Big Show & The Great Khali and Santino Marella & Zack Ryder. Also, A.W. began offering his managerial services to the team, pointing out that the tag champions had been treated like jokes, being left off WrestleMania and Extreme Rules. At the April 30 Raw, Primo & Epico lost the tag titles to Kingston & Truth. After losing the titles, Primo, Epico and Mendes joined A.W.'s talent agency in May. However, after joining "All World Promotions", Primo & Epico would not wrestle on television until the No Way Out pay-per-view on 17 June. At No Way Out, it was revealed that Primo & Epico's 30-day rematch clause for the tag titles had expired, and that the duo had to compete in a four-way match against the teams of Justin Gabriel & Tyson Kidd, the Usos and the Prime Time Players (Titus O'Neil & Darren Young) to earn another title shot. During the match, A. W. betrayed Primo & Epico, directly costing them the match and aligning with the match winners, the Prime Time Players. At the following Raw, Primo & Epico defeated the Players by count-out after O'Neil and Young walked out of the match. Primo & Epico would wrestle as babyfaces for their feud against the Prime Time Players. The tag teams would continue their feud on Superstars with Epico losing to Young and Primo beating both O'Neil and Young in singles matches. At Money in the Bank, Primo & Epico defeated the Prime Time Players. On the August 10 SmackDown, Primo & Epico faced the Players in a #1 contender match and were disqualified when champions Kingston & Truth attacked the Players; A.W. was released from WWE between that episode's taping and airing. After Primo & Epico ended their feud with the Prime Time Players in August, they reverted to being heels during a victory over the Usos. Primo & Epico then went on to lose every televised match for the rest of 2012, with losses to Kingston & Truth, the Players, Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara, Team Co-Bro (Santino Marella & Zack Ryder), Team Rhodes Scholars, The Usos and to both Ryback and The Great Khali in handicap matches. At the Survivor Series pay-per-view, Primo & Epico took part in a 10 man elimination tag team match, but were eliminated by Tyson Kidd and Rey Mysterio. By the first SmackDown of 2013, Primo was on a 20 match losing streak, and Epico was at 17. On the January 9 NXT, Primo & Epico broke their losing streaks with a win over Bo Dallas & Michael McGillicutty, their first win in months. However, Dallas & McGillicutty gained revenge by defeating Primo & Epico in the first round of the NXT Tag Team Championship tournament to crown the inaugural champions. On the September 30 Raw, Primo and Epico debuted new characters, as Diego and Fernando of Los Matadores, a face team of two masked Spanish bullfighters with El Torito as mascot and faced 3MB in a winning effort. Since then, the duo has gained several other victories, often followed by their little companion attacking their opponents afterwards to the delight of the fans. On the October 18th edition of Smackdown Los Matadores would began to feud with The Real Americans (Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro) when El Torito attacked their manager Zeb Colter. They would go on to defeat The Real Americans at the Hell in a Cell PPV. Also, El Torito was able to interfere in matches without incurring a disqualification for Los Matadores. Los Matadores' winning streak was finally snapped on the January 24 SmackDown in 2014, courtesy of Curtis Axel and Ryback. On the March 5 edition of WWE Main Event, Los Matadores received a tag team championship match against The Usos in which they were defeated. They also made an appearance as Primo and Epico alongside Carlito to induct Carlos Colon into the WWE hall of fame class of 2014. At the WrestleMania XXX Pre-Show they received a WWE Tag Team Championship shot against The Usos, RybAxel, and The Real Americans, in a Fatal Four-Way Elimination Tag Team match, but lost after being the first team eliminated when Fernando submitted to Jack Swagger's Patriot Lock. On June 23 WWE.com reported that Fernando was injured at a live event that past weekend. Despite this, Diego and El Torito would then start a feud with Fandango. After 3MB broke up, their former mascot Hornswoggle joined Los Matadores as "La Vaquita", a tiny cow mascot complimenting Torito's bullness on the August 19 edition of Main Event. Fernando made his return as well in a losing effort to Heath Slater and Titus O'Neil. On the same weeks edition of WWE Superstars however, La Vaquita's name was tweaked to La Vaca, when he teamed with El Torito to defeat Slater and O'Neil. on the September 9 edition of Main Event. Los Matadores faced the NXT Tag Team Champions The Ascension in a losing effort. At WrestleMania 31 six months later, they lost two pre-show matches, the Fatal Four-Way Match for the WWE Tag Team Championships, and the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. At Elimination Chamber, Los Matadores participated in the first-ever WWE Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber, but failed and got eliminated first by The Ascension. At SummerSlam (2015), Los Matadores competed in a Fatal 4-Way Tag Team Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship in a losing effort. On September 7, 2015 episode on Raw after losing to the Dudley Boyz, Los Matadores turned heel when Diego attacked El Torito after the match, but however he was put through a table by the Dudleys. On the April 4, 2016 episode of Raw, a promotional video aired to promote the return of the duo, who were no longer under the Los Matadores masks and revived their Puerto Rican gimmick. Two weeks later, another video confirmed they had reverted to the names of Primo & Epico. On the May 9, 2016 episode of Raw, another video confirmed that they would return the following week, under the new tag team name The Shining Stars. Category:Tag Team